


all good devils masquerade under the light

by lavenderoracle



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: F/F, M/M, Masquerade Ball, Post Season 2/Season 3, buddy/vespa - Freeform, fake relationship but in reverse cause theyre pretending like theyre not in a relationship, i should remind the jury that this isnt a serious piece of literature, idiot plot but like its okay, its a motherfuckin heist babes, jupeter, no beta we die like clowns, rex glass - Freeform, rita is a mom friend, this is my first penumbra fic so gimme a break
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-20
Updated: 2019-09-21
Packaged: 2020-10-24 12:35:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20706095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavenderoracle/pseuds/lavenderoracle
Summary: Juno and Peter have gotten good at hiding their relationship from the crew.Well, kind of.





	1. secrets to keep (and nail polish to smudge)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> howdy travelers! i wrote most of this with a cold so take the quality of this chap and multiply it by 2 in terms of cohesiveness for when im not sick

Communication is the foundation of any healthy relationship. Mostly, anyways. It had been three months since Juno and Rita had joined Buddy Aurinko’s crew on her spaceship, and two since Juno and Peter Nureyev had reconciled about their last disastrous meeting. It took a lot of time and a lot of talking and a lot of unpleasantness at first, but they were together again. For real this time, and it was amazing. 

However, there was just one glaring issue, because of  _ course  _ there was. Rex Glass wasn’t supposed to know Juno beyond their first meeting. Rex Glass hadn’t gone through what Peter Nureyev had gone through with Juno. So therein lies the exception to the rule of communication. When they were alone, Peter was Peter and they were together and it was wonderful and great. Whenever they were with the crew, Peter was Rex Glass, who had pretended to be a secret agent and was actually a thief working with Buddy, Vespa, and Jet (which Juno supposed was true, just the ultra-simplified version with a few important holes in the plot). And, of course, Rex Glass wasn’t in a relationship with Juno. In fact, they were barely acquainted. 

Right now, though, it was just the two of them in Juno’s room. Peter had insisted on painting Juno’s nails, since, apparently, it was a  _ horrible, awful, world shattering sin  _ that he always forgot to use top coat. Just as Peter started on a new nail, the intercom crackled to life and gave a rather sharp beep, causing Juno to pull his hand away in surprise, leaving an unfortunate streak of violet nail polish across his fingers. He fumbled for the intercom, answering it and gesturing for Nureyev to keep quiet. 

“Juno, I need you to get down to the meeting room as soon as you can. If you could find Mr. Glass and bring him down as well, that would be  _ wonderful _ .” The voice coming through the intercom was Buddy Aurinko, the leader of the crew. Fierce, protective, and smart, with fiery red curls cascading across her shoulders and a calculating glint in her eye. 

“Yeah, I-” He shot a glance over at Peter, stifling a laugh before continuing with his response. “Uh, it might take me a little bit to find Rex, but I’ll get us both down there as soon as I can.”

“I’m sure you can do it in a timely manner, darling. I’ll see you!” With another grating beep, the intercom switched off. Letting out a sigh of relief, he set it down and turned back to Nureyev. “Should we get going? We can just finish my nails later, or whatever. And, uh, fix the stuff we smudged.”

“Stuff you smudged,” Nureyev corrected with an amused smile. “But as long as you  _ promise _ me that you’re going to let me finish them later, we can go and see what Buddy needs of us.”

The walk on the way to the meeting room was silent, with Peter habitually adjusting his affectations to match his alias before he was around the others. Everyone else in the crew was gathered in the meeting room as Juno and Nureyev entered. Rita was drowning a coffee in sugar packets, Vespa and Buddy were conversing in hushed tones, and Jet was just sitting, seeming comfortable in his own silence. They all looked up as the two entered. “You’re here, great,” Buddy greeted them, pointing towards the circular table surrounded by chairs for them to sit. “Take a seat.” 

Buddy paused before speaking again, still managing to command the attention of the crew as she did so. It was something Juno admired in her and no doubt, someone fonder of public speaking admired even more. She had this way of just...commanding attention. It reminded him of Nureyev a little bit. “As you all know, we have been trying to locate the Shard of Achaikos for a while now. We believe we may have found its current location.” With a click of a button Juno hadn’t noticed before, a hologram projected in the middle of a table of a weapon shaped like a shard of glass, decorated with ornate symbols carved all around it. “Sylvia and Jasper Lennox, of Lennox Innovations, were seen transporting the shard into their mansion a week or so ago. We don’t know their intentions with the shard, but, I can’t imagine they’re very noble.”

“Surely nothing good could come of someone having possession of something so powerful,” Rex interjected, his eyes flickering over to Juno just fast enough to be barely detectable to anyone but, well, the detective. 

“Exactly. And thus, we have a plan for stealing it and assuring its destruction.” Another dramatic pause. Buddy held the crowd’s attention in the palm of her hand. “We’ve managed to secure two tickets to a masquerade ball the Lennoxs are hosting tomorrow night. Vespa and I will stay behind and feed instructions through earpieces, Jet will be on standby in case anything goes awry, and Rita has managed to access the security cameras in the mansion and will be keeping a lookout using said cameras. That, of course, leaves our two partygoers.” 

Juno’s eyes darted across the room as Buddy assigned the crew their jobs. Realizing the only two people that were left, his expression fell. “Rex and I?” He asked, being sure to add an extra sting of indignance (and a quick apologetic glance over in Nureyev’s direction). 

“Yes, darling. You and Mr. Glass will be posing as Roman and Hugo Khan, respectively. They’re a power couple on the Outer Rim of Mars, known for their expensive and upscale plastic surgery clinic.”

Of course. Of _ fucking _ course their situation had to get more complicated. Because hiding their relationship from the other four wasn’t hard enough, now they had to pretend to be two people not in a relationship pretending to be in a relationship. Thinking about it too much made Juno’s head spin. Or maybe that was just how damn cold this room was. Could being cold make you dizzy?  _ Focus, Steel. _ Finally remembering to talk, Juno choked on his words before they could come out and, perhaps in his first stroke of luck all day, Nureyev interjected. “If you don’t mind me asking, what made you choose Juno and I for this job? I’m sure you’re aware that we haven’t gotten along well in the past.”

Buddy’s face flashed with the look of someone who barely had the patience to amuse the question. “Oh, well that question’s actually quite simple to answer! I’m the one giving instructions and you follow them if you want to stay on this ship. Understood?” Juno snorted. Nureyev kicked him lightly under the table. 

“Understood,” He replied smoothly, waiting a moment before casting a glance over at Juno. Attempting to communicate without arising any suspicion, Peter mouthed something in his direction that Juno absolutely did  _ not _ understand. ‘What?’ He mouthed back, confusion flickering onto his face in the most subtle way it could. Mouthing whatever he was saying again, it took Juno’s furthered lost look before he gave up. Letting out a tiny huff of air, he shook his head

Buddy cleared her throat. “Mind sharing with the rest of the class?” She questioned, glancing between the two, awaiting an answer. Juno shot a final glance back at Peter before offering a definitive shake of his head. Buddy wasn’t going to get anything more from him. “Right, well, I suggest that we all go and prepare for tomorrow night. Juno, Rex, Vespa and I will be feeding you your instructions as you go, but if you’d like, there’s an itinerary on my desk if you must see it.” A beat. “You’re all dismissed.”

Relieved, Juno stood up as soon as the words left her mouth, gesturing under the table for Nureyev to follow him. The two shuffled out of the room, leaving the rest of the crew alone in the meeting room.

  
\- - - - - - - - - - -

There was a moment of silence as Rita peeked out the door, making sure Juno and Rex were out of earshot before turning back to the rest of the crew. “They’re gone,” She announced, eyes darting between the thieves before her. 

“They’re hiding something, is what they are,” Buddy added, pulling out a chair and taking a seat as she spoke. They’d all seen it. The glances between them, the nudges, the failed attempts at being subtle about whatever they were up to. None of them was quite sure what it was yet, but damn, they were curious.

“You think it’s something serious?” Vespa interjected, slouching in her chair, arms folded across her chest. Despite her expression of doubt, she really was kind of curious about what they were up to. Not because of any particular investment in their lives, she was just… curious, or whatever. 

“If it were serious, I believe Mr. Glass would perhaps do a better job of hiding it.” The third voice came from Jet Siquliaq, who was presently tying tiny knots into a loose thread on his jacket. “Then again, I have my doubts that Juno would be able to hide whatever it is for very long, no matter the severity of their secret.”

Rita couldn’t help but giggle at that last remark, nodding in agreement as she took her seat again. “I think we gotta look into it, right? Do all that detective-y stuff that Mistah Steel does!” She suggested, eyes sparkling with the thought of investigating (or invading, either way) the situation. “Oh! There was this one stream I was watching where it was these two people who were actually a superhero and a supervillain and they really hated each other, but they worked together at an office job - cause fightin’ crime and bein’ evil don’t really pay the bills, y’know - and, anyways, so they had to pretend like they could stand each other so they didn’t expose their identities! Maybe Mistah Glass and Mistah Steel are mortal enemies?” 

The room was silent for a moment as the rest of the crew collectively tried to follow Rita’s train of thought. Buddy was the first one to react. “That certainly sounds like a hunch, my dear. I think investigating, for the safety of the crew and all, would most definitely be beneficial. Are we agreed?” She cast a look around the room, waiting for confirmation from them all before continuing. “Alright then. Meeting dismissed.” A beat. She chuckled softly. “ _ Actually _ dismissed, I mean.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi!! whats up this is meg (candysunflowers on twitter, strawberrysappho on tumblr) and this is the first fanfic i've written in probably two years and definitely my first penumbra fanfic??? anyways if anything needs to be tagged i'm always going to tag it in the beginning of chapters and if any of you need anything tagged, just comment and i'll be sure to add it to the tags if it comes up so we can all have a fun safe and radical time!! in case y'all were wondering, the title is based off a lyric from turn the lights off by tally hall and also there's going to be a mandatory playlist for this fic once i manage to sort it out.
> 
> (ps,,,, im gonna try to update this fic semi regularly but im a v busy person so if i don't update it just know i probably havent fully given up on it)


	2. everybody has masks (and thats not just a metaphor)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw// mention of panic attack symptoms

The heist was tonight. Well, the heist was in 5 hours, to be precise. Too close and yet somehow too far away for Juno’s comfort. They’d sorted out just about everything else in the plan, namely giving Juno and Peter the blueprints for the building and fleshing out their aliases and information on the guests, and all that was left was their disguises. The team had ‘come across’ some extra money and had found a shop to look for outfits in. 

Peter (or rather, Hugo Khan) had found a suit right away, because of  _ course _ he had. He was wearing a white button up layered with a black waistcoat and sangria hued jacket, black pants and round toe pumps completing the look. It was...really not a bad look on him at all. The mask he had picked out was gold and geometric, elaborate designs and two large golden horns decorating the piece. Juno could kiss him right now, he looked so good. Y’know, if he was allowed to. 

Juno (a.k.a. Roman Khan), on the other hand, was having more trouble with his outfit. He hadn’t spent this long trying on uncomfortable dresses in a group of people judging how he looked in said uncomfortable dresses since, well...his wedding. He tried not to think about that. Anytime the thought crossed his mind, anytime he felt that dizzying flash of panic or that sinking regret, he just had to force it down and breathe. After all, he’d grown, right? Even if he might never fix things with her or, hell, even see her again, he’d grown and changed as a person. Nureyev had been both his second and third chance and god damnit, he was beyond lucky. 

“Juno, darling, at some point you’re just going to have to pick a dress.” Buddy’s voice snapped him out of his trance and he only just realized how long he must have been taking. 

“Yeah, sorry, I’m just...not sure yet.” Juno looked down at the dress he was wearing right now. It was puffier on the bottom - as ballgowns tended to be, he supposed - and a pretty purple color that matched Nureyev’s suit. His fashion knowledge limited to what he’d absorbed from Nureyev and his own opinion, he thought the dress looked...nice. I mean, there was really nothing wrong with it, it just didn’t feel like him. That was the point, though, wasn’t it? He wasn’t supposed to be himself; he was Roman Khan. And hell, even Roman Khan was hiding under a mask. Masks upon masks upon masks. Drawing in a breath, he scanned the group. “I mean, I guess I like this one? It’s...a dress, I guess.”

“That it certainly is,” Nureyev piped up from the corner of the room, where he had been fiddling idly with his mask and observing the table of masks behind him. “By the way, I think this one would match  _ perfectly _ with that dress, don’t you think?” The mask was a dark brown, color reminiscent of leather, and shaped like a wolf’s head. The area around the holes for his eyes were a stunning yellow, giving the mask a monstrous aesthetic to it. It looked pretty damn cool, actually.

Rita, evidently, liked it too, as she slammed the plate of mini sandwiches she’d been holding down and rushed to her feet. “Mistah Glass, that’s perfect! Oh, Mistah Steel, you gotta wear that one now, just look at it!” She beamed at Juno, battering her lashes in what he assumed as an attempt to charm and convince him. Damn it all, it worked. With a sigh, Juno gave in (if only to stop trying on dresses).

“Fine.” He held up a defeated hand, taking a step back towards the changing room. “We can do this one and the mask that Glass picked out and we can just get this over with. Cool?” Waiting for confirmation from the rest of the group, Juno hurried into the changing room to get back into his comfortable clothes as soon as possible.

After changing, the group purchased the suit, dress, and masks with ‘their’ money and returned to the ship. They finished the rest of the preparations in a timely manner with, strangely but fortunately, not many hiccups getting in their way. Nureyev had done his own makeup and, after seeing Juno’s makeup, insisted on doing his as well. His idea of what makeup to wear was a lot bolder than what Juno was planning on wearing, but he couldn’t lie and say he didn’t look damn good. They  _ both _ looked damn good. 

While they were still alone in Peter’s room, Juno placed a gentle kiss to his cheek. “You ready?” He asked, mostly trying to calm his own nerves while they prepared. The concept of heists never made him nervous, but crowds that big could get a little much. Well, a lot much. Too much. 

“Of course,” Peter confirmed with a hint of a smile. “You?”

“I guess.” A breathy laugh escaped his lips and he stood up from the vanity they were sat at, his dress rustling with the movement. “I need to go grab my blaster. I’ll meet you at the Ruby 7, alright? I’m pretty sure I overheard Vespa mumbling something about us being behind.”

Giving an affectionate peck to Juno’s cheek, Peter offered a tiny wave as he exited the room. He turned his attention back to his own makeup, but it wasn’t long before there was a knock at the door. “Juno, I thought we agreed to-” Looking up, he realized the person in the doorway wasn’t Juno. It was Rita. He quickly adjusted his mannerisms, hoping to anything that she wouldn’t notice the slight changes. “Rita! How lovely to see you. Can I help you with anything?”

Rita flashed him a warm smile, taking a seat next to him on the bench facing the vanity. “Mistah Glass, would you mind if we had a quick little conversation?”

That didn’t sound good. Swallowing down the worst thoughts that immediately jumped into his mind, Nureyev brought a pleasant smile to his face. “Why, of course. What do you need to talk about?”

“I need to talk to you about Mistah Steel. Now, I don’t know if I’m crossin’ a boundary or anything, but, uh, I still don’t know you very well and I’m sure you’re a great man with only the best of intentions and all that, but I’ve known Mistah Steel for a long time now and I know him better than anyone and-” She drew in a breath, exhaling with a huff and suddenly seeming a lot more mature. Almost motherly, if he was honest. “Just treat him well, okay?” Without giving Nureyev a chance to respond, Rita gave him a satisfied wink and hurried out of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> howdy travelers! sorry for the kind of brief chapter, but i just wanted to get something out before the week where i have pretty much constant rehearsals and stuff :((


End file.
